Performing automated event services to registered end users

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are disclosed of transmitting live event notification information to a user device. One example method may include retrieving event user preference information from an event user database based on prestored user preferences. The method may also include transmitting an initial event notification message to an end user communication device based on the event user preference information to notify the end user of an upcoming event and receiving a response message from the end user communication device indicating a current availability of the end user. The user device may receive notification information via more than one communication channel and respond in a number of different ways.

This application is a Continuation-in-Part Application based upon U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/433,985 entitled “Performing AutomatedEvent Services to Registered End Users,” filed May 1, 2009.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally related to automated registered eventnotification and reminder notification to end users using atelecommunications switch to provide event services to individual endusers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There has been an increase in recent years of the availability of publicdigital grade networks, such as the World Wide Web (“WWW”) and theInternet, to exchange voice communication signaling. Conventional, voiceand media data exchange platforms are performed via an individual dialerdevice that dials out to an end user that is pre-registered to receive abroadcast event. In one example, if an end user registers for a townhall meeting to be broadcast at a later time, then prior to the townhall meeting, the end user device (i.e., mobile terminal) would need tobe dialed-up directly and would also need to keep her own line open froma single dialer device.

It would be optimal if multiple remote end users communicating throughcomputer voice functionality over, for example, the Internet, could bedialed up to receive access to a “town hall” meeting by communicatingthrough standard telephony links, such as, the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). In addition, it would be further optimal to reduce thecharges that are incurred from interactive voice response (IVR) servicesand to utilize telecommunications ports of standard PSTN connections toprovide broadcasting for “town hall” events to all pre-registered endusers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system, method, and computer readablemedium of providing an automated registered event notification andreminder notification to end users using a telecommunications switch toprovide event services to individual end users.

An example embodiment of the present invention may include a method ofproviding customized event data to an end user communication device. Themethod may include retrieving event user preference information from anevent user database and transmitting an initial event notificationmessage to an end user communication device based on the event userpreference information to notify the end user of an upcoming event. Themethod may also include receiving a response message from the end usercommunication device indicating a current availability of the end user.

Another example embodiment of the present invention may include anapparatus configured to provide customized event data to an end usercommunication device. The apparatus may include a processor configuredto retrieve event user preference information from an event userdatabase and a transmitter configured to transmit an initial eventnotification message to an end user communication device based on theevent user preference information to notify the end user of an upcomingevent. The apparatus may also include a receiver configured to receive aresponse message from the end user communication device indicating acurrent availability of the end user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a network configuration of registering customers forevents.

FIG. 2 illustrates a network configuration that continues from FIG. 1and which provides reminders and event connection services to users.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method according to an example embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example logic diagram of a caller notificationevent procedure according to example embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5A illustrates an event registration processing system andcorresponding logic diagram according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5B illustrates an event notification and call processing system andcorresponding logic diagram according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example system diagram of a caller notificationsystem according to example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example network entity configured to storeinstructions and processing hardware for performing operations accordingto example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method of operation according to exampleembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a registration networking system 10 that provides aregistration and list generation process according to an exampleembodiment of the present inventive concept. Referring to FIG. 1, thenetworking registration system includes a registration server 11, aregistration database 12, a preference database 13, a notificationserver 14, a telephone calling device 15, and an email or otherelectronic notification alerting device 16. The networking system 10provides a registration procedure to register potential registrants forupcoming events, such as, for example, town hall meetings, telecasts,broadcasts, and other audio and/or video data events.

In operation, the notification server may initiate a notificationmessage to potential registrants “A” and “B” who are pre-registered inthe registration database 12 to receive pre-event registration remindersof upcoming events. The potential registrants may read or listen toinformation regarding the event and decide whether the event issomething that they would like to be registered for when the event takesplace in the near future.

The potential registrants “A” and “B” may receive the event registrationinformation via e-mail and/or an auto-dialer telephony sub-system, whichdial the user's telephone number and offer information upon the user'sanswering of the call. Other event registration informationnotifications may include text messaging (short message service ‘SMS’)and/or any other computer or mobile-phone based notification toolavailable to the registrants.

In one example, an event may be solicited to potential registrants inthe form of a voice mail with a web link embedded in the voice and/or inan accompanying e-mail. For example, a town hall mayor may leave a voicemessage to the potential registrants as a ‘welcome’ and invitation tobegin listen in on the event, but, may also include a web link“www.clickherefortownhallmeeting.com” as a click only tool to access andregister for the event.

Upon receiving the event registration information, the potentialregistrants “A” and/or “B” will either elect to be included in theupcoming event or to decline participation in the upcoming event.Assuming registrant “A” elects to be part of the event, the registrant“A” may also elect certain profile-related options which includepreferences for receiving the event data in a particular manner and mayalso include preferences for the way the event data is offered. Forexample, registrant “A” may elect to participate in the event via hercell phone. The call may be received at the user's cell phone number andmay include audio but not video because the user may wish to save moneyon expensive high bandwidth video data by only listening to the audioand not watching the video portion that is otherwise made available.

Once the registrant's preferences are known, those preferences may bestored in the preference database 13 so that the registrant'spreferences may be recalled at a later time (i.e., when a registeredevent is about to take place). The registration database 12 will storeother registrant user information, such as, user name, telephone number,location, request for reminder, automated call-to-join event featureenablement and other user related information. The registration database12 will also provide a list of the pre-registered registrants who shouldbe contacted for a particular event. In addition, the types of eventsmay be further matched to meet the registrants' preferences and profileinformation (i.e., a registrant with a lawyer occupation may be profiledfor recent Supreme Court decisions broadcast as upcoming events).

Once the registration procedure is completed and a list of potentialregistrants, their event preferences, and their respectiveidentification information has been obtained, the information may bestored in a data file or basic comma-separated-value (CSV) data file.The CSV file may, in turn, be forwarded to a file transfer protocol(FTP) website that uploads the information into an online databasesystem of a notification networking system 20 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the notification networking system 20 includes afile server 21, a call and data handling network switch 22, an outdialer23 and user registrants 24A-24D. Once the CSV file is received at thefile server 21, the data entries in the CSV file must be processed andtranslated into notification entries for later processing ofnotifications.

The file server 21 may include a multi-channel network (MCN) applicationthat provides notification handling based on the generatednotifications. The MCN may also format the data of the event fordelivery to the registered users. For example, the MCN may format VXMLdata for audio delivery across various different types of channels. Thefile server 21 may also include a business process application thatmanages the outdialing process and business related matters related toevent notifications.

Once the MCN has formatted the delivery scheme for presenting event datato the registered users. A calling operation is forwarded from theswitch 22 to the outdialer 23, which may be separate from the switch 22,or, instead, may be part of the switch as a virtual outdialerapplication module. The outdialer 23 will notify the switch 22 toperform calling operations to customer phones 24A-24D. For example, theoutdialer can call the customers phones and will receive a responsebased on dual tone multi-frequency responses (DTMF) or via speechrecognition. The speech recognition may be provided by attaching anautomatic speech recognition (ASR) unit to the outdialer 23.

Referring to the customer phones 24A-24D, in a first scenario acustomer's answering machine may answer the reminder for the event. Insuch a case, the outdialer may leave an automated pre-recorded voicemessage that the user of the answering machine 24A can listen to at alater time. For customer 24B, the automated reminder may connect to thecustomer 24B who responds to the event reminder by saying “NO.” In thisexample, the customer has effectively made the decision not to connectto the event and will not be reminded of the same event again. Inaddition to receiving a call, reminders and event notifications ingeneral may be provided by other automated communication mechanisms,such as, chat, instant messaging (IM), SMA, fax, etc., in addition tovoice and email services.

Referring to customer 24C, conversely from the above-example of the usersaying “NO”, customer 24C may speak “YES” into the phone upon beingcalled and reminded of the event. In such a case, customer 24C will haveher call routed to join the event via a conference call bridge servicelocated at a third party facility.

In the last case, the customer 24D will be pre-registered to accept theevent registration reminder by simply pressing “1” or another DTMFbutton on her phone to effectively accept participation in the event. Insuch a case, the customer 24D will have her call routed to apre-registered automated service application that matches her telephonenumber via an automatic number identification (ANI) service. The ANImatching operation may be performed by matching the customer's numberwith preference and registration information pre-stored in aregistration database or file.

Once a customer has accepted event registration, the call may betransferred to a pre-conference lobby that maintains the call connectionuntil the event is ready to begin. Alternatively, the customer may becalled back automatically at the time the event is ready to begin, whichcould save air time for a cellular phone service.

When calling the registered user, the present implementation may operateat the enterprise level to contact multiple end user customers (i.e.,100,000 registered users may be contacted to receive the town hall datafeed and 10,000 may actually confirm attendance). There is no need for asingle dialer to perform the calling of each of the registered users.Instead, it is possible to dial-out to all of the registered users atthe time of the event, and use a media gateway or switch 22 to hold thelines open using a standard telecommunications (i.e., PSTN) resourceplatform.

By holding the lines open using the PSTN, there is no need to bridge inorder to hold the lines open. By avoiding the bridge requirements, it ispossible to perform a town hall broadcast via the switch 22 based onsimply a PSTN port charge. By using a PSTN port to perform the town hallbroadcast, it is possible to minimize expensive interactive voiceresponse (IVR) server charges for each of the individual customers. Thisway, the customers receive an IVR-type service without additionalIVR-based charges.

The entire process of broadcasting a town hall meeting to a large numberof registered customers may be entirely automated. For example, by usingthe event registration platform, end users may register weeks ahead oftime (i.e. product release, etc.) and may be notified right before thecall is going to begin and then may be joined into the call withouthaving to set it up ahead of time.

The switch 22 provides a call transferring service that either providesa conference call bridge, or, instead, connects the call without using abridge. In the no bridge scenario, the switch 22 will maintain thecaller leg and add the leg to a bridge but will drop the voice dialer 23function and permit a next call function via a call detail record. Oncethe IVR leg has been established as a connection via an IVR outdialport, the called user may be transferred to the event conferenceautomatically, or, at least transferred to an operator 25, where theuser may receive additional assistance.

During the IVR outdial port initial calling procedure, the user iscalled and asked if she wants to join the conference event. The user,although already registered, may then decide if the conference event isstill appropriate at that current time. The user may confirm that shewants to continue with participating in the conference event by pressinga key or selecting an option to confirm attendance via the user handsetdevice.

Once the user's confirmation to join the conference event is received,the user may be transferred into the conference event automaticallywithout further delay. Alternatively, the user may confirm and/orrequest to be transferred to an operator 25 directly to receive furtherassistance. The operator 25 may provide user assistance by guiding theuser with detailed instructions to join the conference, or, instead, tojoin the conference based on further user requirements of optionsavailable to the user.

After the user joins and the confirmation has been received by theoperator 25 and/or the user, the IVR port that was used to provide theconference event feed may be released since the call connection isestablished for that particular user (i.e., the call was handed-off).This provides the conference event service with the availability toprovide a next user with an opportunity to join the conference eventinstead of being tied-up with a single caller.

The switch 22 establishes the legs for the confirmed users 24C and 24D.After registration is performed, the IVR leg is dropped and the call isheld by the switch 22. This configuration essentially places andmaintains the leg in the conference bridge. There may be two legs foreach user, the leg that goes into the bridge function of the switch 22and the leg that comes out of the bridge function.

In the case where the customer is pre-registered for the conference,there is no need to further screen the user. In other words, theautomated ANI entry matching of the customer number to a pre-registereddatabase will connect the customer automatically to the event.

The operator 25 may be an automated server computer including a computerreadable medium for providing an automated software program function.The operator 25 may instead require an administrator to provide variousmanagement functions. Examples of the management functions may includearchived playback services, operator services, pre-registered ANImatching services and may also include an event moderator bridgefunction.

The event moderator bridge function may include conference moderation,conference question and answering, conference head-counting, conferencenotification delivery, conference notification call and throttlingsupport, a trunk group port monitor and a stream participant count. Forexample, Most of these functions are self-explanatory, as for throttlingsupport, the operator 25 may throttle back the rate of calls outstandingand the rate of simultaneous calls outstanding in order to manage ports.For instance, given a current number of calls outstanding, it may benecessary to borrow ports and/or prioritize ports to accommodate each ofthe outstanding participants.

In another example of throttling, outdial throttling may be performed tohold back a number of calls based on the size of the queue for certaintypes of calls. In operation, a user can be inserted into the call or toan operator automatically without any assistance. In another example,outdial throttling may be performed to modify the port transfer rate sothat the optimal bandwidth is used to transfer data on the designatedport. If the maximum number of ports is reached for the servicecapability of the switch 22, the operator 25 may provide a message tothe users to access a URL for the same information during or after thecall itself. This provides an alternative site that may be accessed bythe users to receive the call.

Other features may include using capture registration information toinvite users in to pre-register for an event. A leader-view monitor mayalso be used to determine who will set up the calls to get into theconference to ensure that there is no overbooking.

When a registered user connects to the conference when no operator ispresent, the registered user connects based on their ANI information.The ANI information may also be used to map the user's personalinformation to their ANI. In this example, if a registered user isparticipating in the town hall meeting then that person may push abutton on their handset to ask a question and may have their namepresented based the mapping between their ANI and their personalinformation. The ANI provides a way to keep track of the user's personalinformation and to refer to it when necessary.

An example method 300 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated in FIG. 3. The method may include notifying aplurality of end users of an event by communicating a notificationmessage to the plurality of end users at operation 301. The method mayalso include receiving event registration messages from at least aportion of the plurality of end users to register said portion of theplurality of end users for the event at operation 302 and storing theevent registration messages in a registration list file at operation303. Other operations may include establishing a connection for each ofsaid portion of the plurality of end users via an interactive voiceresponse (IVR) application at operation 304 and dropping the IVRapplication and maintaining the connection via a port on a networkelement to transfer the event data from the network element to saidportion of the plurality of registered end users at operation 305.

According to another example embodiment of the present invention,invitation town hall or large-scale conference calls setup ahead of thescheduled call may have a corresponding show rate or log-in/dial-in ratethat is significantly lower than the number of invited or confirmedparticipants. Manual outdialing may increase the number of participants,however, burdensome administrative efforts are required to operate amanual outdial system. The success rate of increasing the number of userparticipants depends largely on the ability to tailor the dial-inoptions and reminder options to ensure user flexibility. For example, byincluding email, voice mail, SMS text messaging, hyperlink access andother reminder/log-in options, the user may be able to have anopportunity to receive a customized user preference-based town hallmeeting invitation or reminder. User preferences may be identified andstored in a preference database for cross-referencing with reminderapplications, such as a user calendar application and executionprocedure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example user preference interface and logicdiagram according to example embodiments of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 4, a user interface web portal 402 may be accessed byusername and/or password to setup a user's personal communicationoptions. A user may elect to receive various event or conference callreminders via interface 404. For example, the user may ask for remindersfor “all events” for which the user is registered, and add “joinme”integration to a third party application (Res+). The user may also askto be informed about future events handled by the same event/callprocessing system, and/or to have a calendar application integrated withthe event information of current and future events.

The calendar application 406 (i.e., Microsoft Outlook®, Google calendar,etc.) may receive an entry for an upcoming event or conference call(e.g., streaming voice, streaming video, interactive feedback options,communications privileges, etc.). The dated entry may be automaticallysubmitted to a user's calendar via a SMS message and an email message.The calendar entry may include a packet instruction that provides avoice call, text message and/or email generation to be integrated intothe calendar entry associated with the upcoming event. In furtherdetail, a voice message may be submitted via a phone call or a textmessage 416 to the user's mobile device. The text message 416 mayinclude information 418 instructing the user to “join” the active orupcoming event by typing “join” or accepting to join the event.Alternatively, the call may instruct the user to say “join” into theinteractive voice response feedback system accompanying the automatedcall. Additional instructions may offer further possibilities, such ascalling a group of intended participants setup by the user “call mypeeps” as a registered moderator or as a friend or acquaintance of agroup of other users whom the first user desires to share the event. Inanother example, the third party social networking group function “Res+”may enable an automated join function that transmits a join request 410to a first user and enables an automated call or text message functionto join the live event via a simple join option 412 and a correspondingcall connection function that calls the user 414 upon confirming theuser's request to join the live event.

According to one example conference call setup procedure a user named‘Phil’ may dial a conference call number 888-888-xxx at 5:51 pm and thena corresponding conference code 123456789#. The caller will likelyexperience a delay before hearing an automated operator response “Thankyou for joining the amateur high wire trapeze enthusiast club meeting,can I have your first and last name please?” The caller may respond“Phil Carpenter.” The automated response system may then prompt thecaller for a detailed spelling to which the caller responds “P-H-I-LC-A-R-P-E-N-T-E-R.” The voice response system may then ask foradditional information, such as phone number, address, email address,etc. The caller will respond by speaking letter by letter responses tofulfill the questioning performed by the IVR call processing system.

According to another example embodiment, the user may receive a call at5:59 pm on his telephone or mobile device. The phone call may provide apredetermined ring back tone to identify the purpose of the call (i.e.,circus music), which is a high-wire club event call. The caller mayidentify the called number by an automatic user called numberidentification procedure (e.g., dialed number identification service(DNIS)). The identified called party's number and corresponding userinformation may be retrieved from a registration database to includeinformation, such as user contact preferences, user name, address,password, etc. The IVR system may then proceed by identifying the callerat the onset of the answered call “Hello Mr. Carpenter on a wire,welcome to the greatest show on a high-wire. The high-wire lesson isabout to begin. Please say JOIN when prompted and the lesson will beginshortly by audio and video if your device is compatible to receive suchinformation feeds.” The user may respond by saying “join” and theaudio/video feed may proceed to stream to the user.

In another example, the called party may receive the call the same asthe above example, but may currently be on the other line. The IVRsystem in this case may send a text message at 6:02 pm “Hey Phil, thehigh-wire meeting is underway” reply to this text with “JOIN” to loginto the meeting. As the user responds, an active call may be initiatedand the music may begin to play. Alternatively, the caller may be awayfrom his or her phone and may receive another text message informing theuser that the event is over but with an option to view or hear a replayof the session. The called party may respond with a “JOIN” message tobegin receiving the recorded audio/video feed.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example call/event processing platform and logicdiagram according to example embodiments of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 5A, an event registration and list generation system500 illustrates two potential event registrants 502 (operating alandline phone) and 504 (operating a smartphone device) are configuredto receive event or call messaging, event or call notifications andstreaming call or event data. In operation, proactive notifications maybe generated and sent to potential registrants 502/504 according to apredetermined time cycle. The potential registrants may be part of aconstituents' list of known persons identified by name, phone, address,email, etc. A voice/email transfer module 524 may provide thenotifications and corresponding event data. A location based service 522may be used to provide caller location information to determine thepotential registrant's location prior to offering access to the currentevent (town hall meeting). Certain offers may be provided to the uservia a web link “mytownhall.com” (example URL not intended to be a sourceof information for purposes of this application), as a website receivedby the called parties in a voicemail message, which may be used forpreregistration to the event. The link may be a link to a particularevent registration with a summary list of representatives/districts topick from list.

The event pre-registration effort may gather all relevant information:first/last name, ANI phone number, email, request for reminder,automated call to join event, request for inclusion, etc. The retrievedpreferences may be stored in a preference database 520 for currentand/or future event processing for a particular user. For example, apreference for a mode of contact (e.g., phone, email, mobile device,etc.) may be setup in the preference database 520. A resultantregistration and/or pre-generated list may be created and formatted viaa preference registration module 518 and stored as a list in theregistration database 516. The list may be sent to a FTP site to includeevent information 514 and an event registration code or file authorizingand identifying the registrant, as created by an event registrationmodule 512. A comma separated value (CSV) file 510 may be created andsent to the notification platform 530 (continued on FIG. 5B).

FIG. 5B illustrates an event/call notification system 502 and event/callprocessing system 504 according to example embodiments. Continuing withthe received CSV data file, a file receipt module 530 may receive theCSV file via FTP of SFTP for processing via the notification system 502.A virtual customer service representative campaign module 532 mayidentify the type of event and participant information needed to setupthe proper notifications and reminders. A missed call notificationmodule 534 may identify missed calls and other measures for handlingsuch events during a notification cycle. Information, such as billingand outdial attempts 536 are identified and recorded to ensure propercall attempts and processing measures.

A media gateway 538 is responsible for determining when to transmitnotification information to each of the users who are identified aspotential registrants (542-548). An outdialer application or module 540may be coupled to the media gateway 538 to ensure the registrants arecalled to notify each of them of the upcoming event(s). For calls toregistrants that are either preregistered 548 or have willingly acceptedto participate in the event 546 may be forwarded to the live eventplatform 504. For example, the pre-registered users may be identified bya pre-registered automatic number identification (ANI) module 554 thatidentifies the called user via his or her associated device ANI. For theconfirmed users who accept the live invitation, a mode operator module552 may be used to route the call to the conference based on user inputor user feedback (i.e., DTMF selections, voice confirmation Y/N, etc.).Once a user is connected to the conference, a conference call bridge 560may be used to bridge the call to the event moderator bridge 570, whichoffers service delivery, product support, operators, etc. An audiostreaming event 550 may be established via an Internet connection to auser's computer, smartphone or other communication data device toprovide streaming access to the event via a remote participant 572.Also, a management operator 572 may be available through the establishedsession to provide support (Q&A).

The event moderator bridge 570 may provide conference moderation, Q&Aprocessing, event head count, notification delivery, notification callprocessing, trunk group port monitoring and stream participantmanagement. According to another example, a phone may ring and a caseanswering machine may play a message to which a user may respond “NOTHANKS” answer with no DTMF response, or press “1” as a response. Inanother case, “YES” may be selected to join a conference, which may besent to an enter mode operator 552, or a pre-registered user may “1” tojoin live event now. The predetermined call window may begin calling 30minutes prior to a conference/event and continue calling until 5 minutesafter start of conference (or later). The gateway 538 may function bytransferring a call with no bridge function enabled to maintain a callerleg or add a leg to a call bridge but drop the outdial power/resource topermit a next call function.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example call notification processing systemaccording to example embodiments of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 6, the call notification system 600 may include a registrantinformation database 640 of user's intended to participate in a liveevent. The system 600 may also include a data retrieval engine 610, acommunication service engine 620 and a call processing engine 630 eachof which contributes to the processing of user device access to liveevents.

According to one example method of operation, customized event data maybe provided to an end user communication device, such as a mobile phone,smartphone, tablet computing device, computer, landline telephone, etc.The system 600 may begin by retrieving event user preference informationfrom the registrant information database 640. The user preference(s) mayinclude voice communication, text message communication, emailcommunication, etc., to receive event notifications and access optionson his or her device. The system 600 may transmit an initial eventnotification message to the end user communication device based on theevent user preference information to notify the end user of an upcomingevent. The event notification message may first be transmitted by avoice call according to a predetermined user preference stored in thedatabase 640. The data retrieval engine 610 may retrieve the userpreference information and provide the information to a communicationservice engine 620, which retrieves a phone number associated with theuser device and prepares the call processing engine 630 to transmit acall, text message, email, etc., depending on the user preference. Thesystem 600 may receive a response message from the user deviceindicating a current availability of the end user responsive to thenotification sent to end user device.

Examples of event user preference information may include communicationcontact preferences, such as a mobile device preference, a voice callpreference, a text message preference and an email communicationpreference. The end user device may transfer back an indication that theend user is currently unavailable assuming the end user is on the otherphone or is away from his or her phone and cannot confirm that thenotification was received. In response, another event notification maybe transmitted to the end user device by another communication messageformat different from an initial communication message format of theinitial event notification message. The first and second message formatsmay be retrieved from a user record stored in the database 640indicating a priority of communication preferences, for example, firstpreference voice call, second preference text message, third preferenceemail, etc. If the user device is unresponsive, another eventnotification may be transmitted indicating that the event is currentlyin progress and provide an option to access the event when the user isavailable. Alternatively, the event notification may indicate that theevent is finished and may provide an option to access a replay of theevent. The system 600 may also be configured to perform an automaticnumber identification (ANI) comparison to determine whether there is amatch between an ANI associated with the end user device and an ANIstored in the database 640, and by determining the match exists, theuser device may be connected to the event session and streaming audioand/or video may be provided to the end user device.

Example embodiments are preferably realized in a hardware device, suchas, a computer, cellular phone, or other mobile terminal device etc. Inother embodiments, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, firmware or a combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware. The above example embodiments may also be implemented insoftware code and may be stored on a computer readable medium, such as,for example, non-volatile memory devices (e.g., RAM, ROM, hard disketc.). The software code may be accessed from the computer readablemedium and may be executed by a processor. The executed program mayprovide one or more of the features of the example embodiments.

The operations of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, or in a combination of thetwo. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example FIG. 7 illustrates an example network element 700, which mayrepresent any of the above-described network components of the otherfigures.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, a memory 710 and a processor 720 may bediscrete components of the network entity 700 that are used to executean application or set of operations. The application may be coded insoftware in a computer language understood by the processor 720, andstored in a computer readable medium, such as, the memory 710. Thecomputer readable medium may be a non-transitory computer readablemedium that includes tangible hardware components in addition tosoftware stored in memory. Furthermore, a software module 730 may beanother discrete entity that is part of the network entity 700, andwhich contains software instructions that may be executed by theprocessor 720. In addition to the above noted components of the networkentity 700, the network entity 700 may also have a transmitter andreceiver pair configured to receive and transmit communication signals(not shown).

FIG. 8 illustrates one example method of operation according to exampleembodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8, a method 800of providing customized event data to an end user communication deviceis disclosed. The method may include retrieving event user preferenceinformation from an event user database at operation 802 andtransmitting an initial event notification message to an end usercommunication device based on the event user preference information tonotify the end user of an upcoming event at operation 804. The methodalso includes receiving a response message from the end usercommunication device indicating a current availability of the end userat operation 806.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding theabove description. Although the present invention has been describedwith reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be recognizedthat the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but canbe practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification anddrawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense. The scope of the invention should, therefore, bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing customized event data to anend user communication device, the method comprising: retrieving eventuser preference information from an event user database; transmitting aninitial event notification message to an end user communication devicebased on a primary communication preference of the event user preferenceinformation to notify the end user of an upcoming event, wherein theevent user preference information comprises at least one primarycommunication contact preference and at least one secondarycommunication preference that has a lower priority than the primarycommunication preference, wherein the event user preference informationcomprises at least two of a mobile device preference, a computer devicepreference, a voice call preference, a text message preference and anemail preference; receiving a response message from the end usercommunication device indicating a current unavailability of the end uservia the primary communication contact preference due to a current callin progress on the end user communication device; transmitting anotherevent notification to the end user communication device by anothercommunication message format different from an initial communicationmessage format of the initial event notification message and via adifferent communication medium from an initial communication medium usedto transmit the initial event notification, and wherein the at least onesecondary communication preference is used to select the differentcommunication medium; and receiving a confirmation message from the enduser communication device to join the upcoming event via the differentcommunication medium while the initial communication medium is currentlybeing occupied via the current call.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe another event notification comprises an indicator that the event iscurrently in progress and a user option to access the event.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the another event notification comprises anindicator that the event is finished and a user option to access areplay of the event.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:performing an automatic number identification (ANI) comparison todetermine whether there is a match between an ANI associated with theend user communication device and an ANI stored in a user preferencedatabase; and upon determining the match exists, connecting the userdevice to an active event session associated with the event andproviding streaming audio and video to the end user device.
 5. Anapparatus configured to provide customized event data to an end usercommunication device, the apparatus comprising: a processor configuredto retrieve event user preference information from an event userdatabase; a transmitter configured to transmit an initial eventnotification message to an end user communication device based on aprimary communication preference of the event user preferenceinformation to notify the end user of an upcoming event, wherein theevent user preference information comprises at least one primarycommunication contact preference and at least one secondarycommunication preference that has a lower priority than the primarycommunication preference, wherein the event user preference informationcomprises at least two of a mobile device preference, a computer devicepreference, a voice call preference, a text message preference and anemail preference; and a receiver configured to receive a responsemessage from the end user communication device indicating a currentunavailability of the end user via the primary communication contactpreference due to a current call in progress on the end usercommunication device, and wherein the transmitter is further configuredto transmit another event notification to the end user communicationdevice by another communication message format different from an initialcommunication message format of the initial event notification messageand via a different communication medium from an initial communicationmedium used to transmit the initial event notification, and wherein theat least one secondary communication preference is used to select thedifferent communication medium, and wherein the receiver is furtherconfigured to receive a confirmation message from the end usercommunication device to join the upcoming event via the differentcommunication medium while the initial communication medium is currentlybeing occupied via the current call.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5,wherein the another event notification comprises an indicator that theevent is currently in progress and a user option to access the event. 7.The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the another event notificationcomprises an indicator that the event is finished and a user option toaccess a replay of the event.
 8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform an automatic numberidentification (ANI) comparison to determine whether there is a matchbetween an ANI associated with the end user communication device and anANI stored in a user preference database, and upon determining the matchexists, the processor is configured to connect the user device to anactive event session associated with the event and providing streamingaudio and video to the end user device.
 9. A non-transitory computerreadable storage medium configured to store instructions that whenexecuted cause a processor to perform providing customized event data toan end user communication device, the processor being further configuredto perform: retrieving event user preference information from an eventuser database; transmitting an initial event notification message to anend user communication device based on a primary communicationpreference of the event user preference information to notify the enduser of an upcoming event, wherein the event user preference informationcomprises at least one primary communication contact preference and atleast one secondary communication preference that has a lower prioritythan the primary communication preference, wherein the event userpreference information comprises at least two of a mobile devicepreference, a computer device preference, a voice call preference, atext message preference and an email preference; receiving a responsemessage from the end user communication device indicating a currentavailability of the end user via the primary communication contactpreference due to a current call in progress on the end usercommunication device; transmitting another event notification to the enduser communication device by another communication message formatdifferent from an initial communication message format of the initialevent notification message and via a different communication medium froman initial communication medium used to transmit the initial eventnotification, and wherein the at least one secondary communicationpreference is used to select the different communication medium; andreceiving a confirmation message from the end user communication deviceto join the upcoming event via the different communication medium whilethe initial communication medium is currently being occupied via thecurrent call.
 10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 9, wherein the another event notification comprises at least oneof an indicator that the event is currently in progress and a useroption to access the event, and an indicator that the event is finishedand a user option to access a replay of the event.
 11. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform: performing an automaticnumber identification (ANI) comparison to determine whether there is amatch between an ANI associated with the end user communication deviceand an ANI stored in a user preference database; and upon determiningthe match exists, connecting the user device to an active event sessionassociated with the event and providing streaming audio and video to theend user device.